


On My Way

by VigorousSpring



Series: Kuroshitsuji: Angels & Demons [2]
Category: Kuroshitsuji
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-15 09:14:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 8,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3441671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VigorousSpring/pseuds/VigorousSpring
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The alliance continues. War is not without casualties.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

It was dark, the only source of light being from the various flashing lights decorating various different rides. William had convinced himself that the pounding music was slowly bursting all their eardrums. 23 minutes, then the fair would close for the night. Then the reapers could finally sleep. They were currently sitting inside the tent, fighting to keep their eyes open. 

"I don't know, his ear's just... missing." Jessie explained. His legs were crossed and he held a cola snow cone in his hands. 

"Rabbits often bite each other's ears off, in fact rabbits tend to eat their young's ears." William explained. "There are very few veins at the bottom of rabbits' ears, he should be fine."

 "So you don't think we should take him to the vet?"

 "No, you should keep an eye on him in case it gets infected, but other than that you should just leave it. A vet would give you the same advice and charge you for it." 

How long would you say it takes you, on average, to realise you are sitting stroking your dog - who has snuck up beside you, knowing full well he or she is not allowed on the furniture. The same thing happened to Sebastian, though this was with Grell who was laying on his legs. Not only that, but the demon had found himself patting the reaper's head. Sebastian slid carefully from under the sleeping reaper and laid him on the grass. 

A sleeping reaper was much less hassle, he thought. 

21 minutes, and they could sleep. Well, first they'd have to hide themselves from the guards, but it was all worth it.  

 

27 minutes - they were running late. It only took Grell and Alan a few minutes to fall asleep, but it took William much longer. It didn't comfort him knowing that the only people who would be awake were three demons and the Undertaker - no-one understood his sleeping pattern. He just laid still. Quiet. 

"So... Sebastian." 

"Yes?" Sebastian looked up when the younger demon called his name. Evangeline and the Undertaker had gone in search of materials littered around the grounds to use as makeshift quilts, leaving her apprentice Jessie behind with Sebastian. 

"What's going on with these people?" 

"You'll have to be a little more specific." 

"Okay." Jessie sat beside Sebastian crossing his legs. "Is there something going on between the red one and the one with the glasses?" 

"I wouldn't know. I doubt it. Don't ask them. They will reap you. Or rather the 'one with the glasses' will." 

"I bet they'd make a cute couple." Evangeline commented as she and the Undertaker returned to the tent with various leftover materials in their arms. 

William gasped and batted away the material that was tossed upon him. "Do you mind." 

"Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to eavesdrop?" Sebastian asked, standing over him with a smile. 

William sat up and picked up his glasses from beside him. "I wasn't eavesdropping, you were talking loudly."

 "Can't sleep?" Jessie asked. "Come now, if you can't trust three demons and a retired reaper, who can you trust?" 

William adjusted his glasses. 

"That should keep you warm, by the way," The Undertaker said, "it is the middle of Winter, after all. Wouldn't want you catching your death out here, now would we?"

 

"He's kinda cute." Evangeline commented, laying on her side facing Alan's sleeping form. "In a cheek-pinching sort of way." 

"You look like you're going to collapse from exhaustion." Sebastian said in a manor that conveyed not concern, but something. 

"I don't trust you." 

"Do you trust me?" Grell asked in a tired voice. 

"Please don't make me answer that." 

Grell huffed as he sat up, crossing his arms. "Sleep! You need to be awake and alert tomorrow if our plan will work. Not to mention you look adorable when you're asleep." 

William sighed, knowing the red reaper beside him was right. Wait, how long had he been beside him? "You're right." Though he hated to admit it. He settled into the most comfortable position he could find on the uneven ground. 

"Dead right I am." 

"Grell?" 

"Yes?" 

"How do you know what I look like when I sleep?" 

Silence. 

"So Bassy..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this may seem like a slow beginning, but... well... I mean, the tag tells you that someone dies... I'm in no hurry for that, and I doubt you are either. I can't just up and kill them or you won't feel for them.

 

"The reapers are none of our concern. Once the angels interfere with us, then we shall make our move, but until then..." One of the more stubborn demons began. "Surely you have not forgotten the difficulties those... things... create for us." 

"Have you considered the difficulties we create for them?" Kirito replied harshly. "I'm not saying we should become best friends and invite them to dinner parties-" 

"Is it not? Because that certainly sounds like what you are implying. Kirito, this is not our fight." 

Kirito shook his head and walked away, giving the impression of defeat. Then, he turned back, with a glimmer in his eye. "I don't think your problem is with the reapers." 

"Oh?" 

"I think you're afraid of the angels. Afraid of what they could do. Afraid you can't beat them..." 

It was worth a shot, he thought. 

"Kirito! It is not our fight! End of discussion." 

 

Sebastian felt vibrating in his coat pocket. Recognising the caller ID, he politely excused himself. "Kirito." 

"Where are you?" Came the response. "I want to help." 

"You certainly took your time." 

"I doubt I would make much of a difference, but I can't sit back and do nothing." 

Sebastian smiled. "I shall text you the address... as soon as I find it." 

"SEBASTIAN!"

 

William gasped as he was harshly shook, waking him. "Make your mind up, Sutcliff." 

"Why is it shrieking the name 'Sebastian' doesn't wake you but simple shaking does?" Grell stood up quickly - a little too quickly as he felt slightly dizzy. "What are we supposed to do?" 

Alan was shaking, convulsing, uncontrollably. No-one could tell if he was conscious or not, but they certainly hoped not. 

"What are we supposed to do?" Grell asked. 

"There's nothing we can do," William replied, "it will pass." 

"How do you know?" 

"I read up on it. I am prepared." 


	3. Chapter 3

Alan continued to convulse, he had been for what seemed like hours but in reality had only been a few minutes. Still, it seemed far too long. 

"This isn't right. This is far too long." It was then that William noticed Grell was no longer beside him. 

"W-Will?" 

Grell was on his knees, his trembling arms in the air and his eyes squeezed tightly shut. He gulped, feeling the cold metal stratching against his throat. 

"How quickly you people judge." Jessie smiled, one hand firmly on his knife and the other pulling Grell's hair. From behind him, Evangeline lowered her hand and Alan settled. 

William stood up slowly - knowing full well what any sudden movement could cause. "You planned this." 

"Congrats." Evangeline clapped. "You've known Sebastian for a while, I'm sure you know how we can manipulate people's movements." 

"Quite an elaborate plan you've put together. Why?" 

Jessie shrugged. "We have our reasons, which you'll find out in three... two..." 

William heard a portal open behind him, but he didn't have chance to turn around before he felt rough hands pull his arms back in a painful, almost dislocating, manor. 

"I'm sorry." A familiar young voice trembled from behind him. 

"I will admit, it did take a lot of doing." Jessie continued. "Had to choose exactly the right people, at exactly the right moment, with exactly the right technique. Of course, we had to start early." 

 

//Flashback//

"They look promising." Evangeline commented. "I can see they're going to amount to something, something big." 

Jessie smiled. "So have we finally made our decision?" 

Evangeline nodded with a satisfied expression. "Certainly. Oh." 

In a matter of seconds, the London sky was filled with a hauntingly beautiful mass of cinematic records. 

//End flashback//

 

"We went through a lot to follow you." Evangeline added, struggling only slightly to keep her hold over Ronald Knox. "We were beginning to think it was a complete waste of time, until you took a group of academy students out for their first reaping." 

"It was unfortunate, of course, but it gave us a great idea... and you believed us." Jessie tightened his grip, pulling back Grell further. He gasped from the surprise, but he refused to give Jessie the satisfaction he knew the demon wanted. 

"Drop your weapon and release the reaper." A strong voice demanded. The two demons felt a weapon of some sort pressing against their backs. 

Ronald Knox regained control over his movement, releasing William in the process, and Jessie's threat over Grell ceased. 

"I'm sorry." Ronald said, barely audible. 

"You took your sweet time," Grell complained, moving over to the other three reapers as Alan began to stir, "I shouted you hours ago!" 

Alan slowly sat up. "Wha- What's happening? Oh!" He stood up quickly, feeling slightly faint as the blood rushed to his head. 

"Sorry about that," Sebastian apologised, "I was trying to find the address. I'm not sure if you remember Kirito or not, but he has agreed to help us." 

"Kirito, is he the one with the purple hair and the horns?" Grell asked, thinking back. 

Sebastian nodded. "Yes, that one." 

"Oh, I liked him." The red reaper smiled, earning a scowl from William. 

"You never mentioned any Kirito." 

"Why, are you jealous? I can assure you, nothing happened between us... not that I didn't try." 

"Excuse me, can you flirt on your own time?" Jessie asked, earning himself a sharp poke to the back. 

"Nobody's flirting on anybody's time." William insisted. "What is it you want?" 

"Take an educated guess." Evangeline snapped. "We're demons, you're reapers, we're hungry, you have a library full of souls." 

"And you went to all this trouble?" Sebastian asked with disbelief. "Why didn't you... just eat a reaper." 

William rolled his eyes. "You're not filling us with much confidence there, Sebastian." 

"I can't quite pinpoint when you stopped despising me and started hating me instead. It's a valid question." 

Jessie shrugged. "Well, I mean, immortality. It's boring. We need something to keep us occupied." 

"Listen," Sebastian said in that sweet voice that made Grell tingle inside, "we've known each other for a while now, I really would hate to have to kill you, but you may leave us with no option." 

"Indeed," the Undertaker added with a genuinely terrifying tone, "unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to develop such attachments. It wouldn't bother me at all to accidentally trip and run you through with this knife." 

Evangeline shuddered. "Well when you say it like that..." She turned swiftly, hitting the Undertaker's knife with her own. They stayed in that freeze-frame for what seemed like hours. 

"I'm really starting to wish I didn't do that." Evangeline shuddered once again. 

Looking to his side, Jessie smiled. Sebastian gasped as he found himself against William's scythe. A knife was one thing, but a death scythe... it wasn't called a death scythe for nothing. 

"Alright, I'm going to back away slowly now." Evangeline said. She moved her knife back slowly and, once she was sure the Undertaker wasn't going to attack her, moved back completely. The origin of the Undertaker's scars was common knowledge amongst demons, making him the one reaper in existance no demon wanted to cross. 

The Undertaker turned slowly to Jessie, his piercing eyes shooting straight through him. If he had a soul, it would have been enough to turn it cold. 

Jessie backed up to Evangeline, tightening his grip around the scythe. "You don't want any unnecessary killings, fair enough. So we'll just take these reapers, and be on our way."


	4. Chapter 4

William gasped, looking around at their new environment. It was dark, damp, and cold. Freezing. "Where are we?" 

"Why, you're in the demon realm of course." Jessie replied. 

"Then why does it look like an FBI interrogation room?" William asked quietly. 

Jessie shrugged. "A sense of familiarity? Doesn't it comfort you?" 

"Not really." 

"Oh well, we tried." 

A one way mirror behind him lit up behind him, revealing the younger reaper Ronald Knox handcuffed to a chair. 

"So I'm going to give you a number of options. One, you give us the information we want." 

In the other room, Evangeline took a seat across from Ronald. 

"Two, we see how long it takes for him to give us the information we want."

Evangeline placed William's scythe on the tablet, the sharp end pointing at the reaper. 

"Three, you take his place and we let him go." 

"What do you want to know?" 

Jessie smiled and shook his head. "No, you don't get to know that until after your decision. Like those game shows, you know, when you get the choice to either play on or cash out but you don't get to see the round until afterwards but once you've seen the round then it's too late to back out. So? The choice is yours." 

"What if I don't choose? I don't see how you can make me." 

"You have five minutes to decide or that thermite you made will magically find its way over to your Dispatch Offices, where your reapers are probably wondering how they got to wherever it is they are, what happened and where their manager has disappeared to." His smile grew. "I have to hand it to those angels for making this so easy! But on the plus side, if you decide to go with that, neither you or that adorable reaper over there will be harmed in any way. Four minutes." 

"The time starts after you've explained the round!" 

"Three minutes, fifty-eight. Three minutes fifty-six. Three minutes fifty-four. Downloading the Countdown music as we speak." 

William took a few seconds to look over his surroundings, and it was then that he realised there were no doors. Escape was out of the question. 

Jessie began whistling the theme from Jeopardy as he watched the digital countdown on his mobile. 

"Say I choose one of the three, what will happen to the others?" 

"They will remain relatively unharmed." 

"Relatively?" 

Jessie shrugged. "Well, it's their decision. If they want to try to fight us off, we can't possibly be held responsible for what happens. We'll hardly go over there and slaughter every reaper in sight, if that's what you're asking. As for the ones we left behind in the tent, we can't be held responsible for that either. That depends on how much you trust Sebastian." 

How much did he trust Sebastian? He found himself wondering. If he'd have been asked that question yesterday, the answer would have been simple. But after defending them... 

What was wrong with that demon? 

"Think about it. You don't know what information we want. It could be how use a scythe to open a portal to the Dispatch Offices, it could be who killed Lucy. Don't judge, I don't know who Lucy is. Two minutes, thirty. We may want to know the question to the answer to the question of life, the universe and everything. There is, of course, another option." 

"What?" 

"Attack me and see what happens?" He smiled. 

William shook his head. "I'm not an idiot, I know what would happen." 

He watched as Evangeline pulled the scythe from the tablet and fiddled with it, almost slicing Ronald's face in the process. He flinched. 

 

"Trust you? Why should we trust you?" Alan asked in the most strong, demanding voice any reaper had ever heard from him. 

"Because... Grell, vouch for me." 

Grell shot the demon a look that was both angry and desperate. "Will you trust my judgement, Alan? If he was against us, he'd have shown it when they did." 

"Sebastian, you were saying?" The Undertaker prompted. 

"Yes, as I said, I know where they are likely to be and, unfortunately, I know what they are likely to do. When Kirito arrives, he can be our wildcard." 

"But they know he's coming!" Alan reminded them. 

"They do, but they've never met. All he needs is a fake name and a slight, I hate to say it, makeover. Grell?" 

Grell gasped with excitement. "Oh I'd be delighted." 

"We're assuming this Kirito person would agree..." 

"Agree to what?" 

"Kirito." Sebastian smiled. "So nice to see you again." 

"Oh, indeed." Grell practically purred. 

"Down, Grell. Kirito... we have a slight change of plan." 

 

"One minute and counting." Jessie turned a sand timer upside down on the table in the middle of the room - both of which William was convinced had just appeared from nowhere. "Isn't this exciting." 

Evangeline was now standing behind Ronald, chatting away to him - though William couldn't tell what was being said - while running her fingers through his hair. 

"Time's running out... See what I did there? It's a little sand timer thing. I thought it was fitting." 

Evangeline had now taken a seat on the table, running a finger down Ronald's bleeding cheek. 

Bleeding? 

When did that happen? 

"Oh, looks like someone's grown impatient. Look like you've got about thirty seconds left. You know what will happen when the time runs out."


	5. Chapter 5

"Or you could smash the glass of that sand timer and use it as a makeshift weapon..." Jessie continued. 

William shook his head. "You don't know how to get to Dispatch." 

"That was just an example, how can you be sure?" 

"If you knew how to, you'd have stolen those reapers' scythes rather than wait for them to open a portal. Your threat is empty." 

The sand timer ran out and Jessie smiled. "Wow, you're a smart one... I hadn't factored that in. Not that I question your intelligence, only people are supposed to panic in this situation and not think so logically. It's really quite infuriating." 

Jessie swiped his hand through the air and the sand timer flew off the table. William had no time to duck, his only reflex was to protect himself with his hand. Bits of sand mixed with his blood. When he turned back, he realised the demon had disappeared. 

 

"Ronald Knox." Jessie said loudly as he entered the room. "How are you feeling?" 

Ronald refused to respond. 

"I thought so. I'm sorry about this." Jessie walked behind the reaper and unlocked the handcuffs. 

"What... What are you doing?" Ronald asked in a quiet voice, uneasily bringing his arms from behind the chair. 

"So, we switching?" Evangeline asked. Jessie nodded, taking the scythe from her and twirling it like an oversized baton. 

"You comfy?" Jessie asked as Evangeline left the room, locking it behind her. Ronald rubbed his hands together in an attempt to warm himself and eyed the demon with suspicion. 

"I'm fine." He lied. 

Jessie reached into his pocket and produced what looked like a small hot water bottle... it was a handwarmer. He placed it on the table in front of Ronald. 

"Freshly boiled and de-crystalised. I'm not sure that's the right word. It sounds okay. Anyway, help yourself." 

"I'm fine, thank you." He insisted. 

Jessie smiled and took a seat opposite him. "You're shaking, so you're either cold or scared. Which is it?" 

Ronald immediately took the hand warmer from the table and attempted to snap the disk. 

"Need help with that?" Jessie offered. 

Ronald shook his head, continuing with the disk. 

The demon shrugged. "Fine. I'm just saying, you'd be warmer a lot quicker if-" 

Ronald thrust the hand warmer in Jessie direction, partly because he knew he couldn't do it and partly just to shut the demon up. Jessie snapped the disk with ease and handed it back to Ronald who took it silently. 

"You're welcome." 

"What do you want?" 

Jessie ran his finger down the scythe. "We eat souls, you collect them. I'll let you take an educated guess." 

Ronald muttered something under his breath, too quiet for any human to hear. "Souls." He looked up. "That's what you want. You want access to our library?" 

"Wow, that was educated." 

 

"That could get infected." Evangeline commented, nodding her head towards William's injury. 

"I have considered that, thank you." He muttered, mustering up enough will-power to pull the largest piece of glass from his hand. 

"Want some salt?" 

"Salt?" 

"Yeah, salt. Sodium chloride. We don't have medical things, we heal within minutes, so I can't offer you anything better." 

"You, demons, have no medical supplies... but you have salt." 

Evangeline nodded. "Well, I mean, we don't tend to go around sprinkling it in circles throwing it into each other's eyes. Do you want some?" 

"No!" 

Evangeline shrugged. "I really want to put some salt in it." 

"You are not putting salt in my wound!" 

"I think you'll find I will put salt in that wound if I wanted to." 

"I'd like to see you try." 

"Is that a challenge?" 

"Maybe it is." 

Evangeline's eyes widened as a part of her regretted starting this conversation. However, the rest of her was certainly going to finish it. 

She walked to the one way glass. "Come here." 

"I'd rather not." 

"Must you be so difficult?" 

William remained silent and, more importantly, remained standing exactly where he was. He tried not to gasp as he pulled the largest shard of glass from his hand and immediately applied pressure, trying to avoid the smaller pieces still there. 

"Want a bandage for that?" 

"No, thank you?" 

"Why not?" 

"You'll put salt on it." 

Evangeline laughed to herself. "I feel like we've known each other for years. It's a shame, really. When Sebastian told me about you, I felt like you'd be someone I'd get along with. Antisocial, suspected OCD. You sounded amazing. You sounded... to die for." 

"Where is this going?" 

"Nowhere, I'm just trying to pass the time." 

There was a knock on the door, the door that insisted on changing place and disappearing whenever it liked. Evangeline opened the door. 

"Thank you very much." 

Evangeline turned swiftly and threw something in William's direction, part of which hit his bleeding hand. Salt. This time he couldn't hide his gasp as the sharp stinging feeling spread through his hand. 

Looking back up, he noticed the demon had once again disappeared, and so had the door. 

Sinking to his knees, William removed his jacket and tore a sleeve from his shirt. 

 

"I don't want to know where you got that." Sebastian said as the Undertaker passed a short blonde wig to Grell. 

"Don't be like that, I found it." 

Grell placed the wig over Kirito's head, visualising where he'd need to cut the holes for his horns. 

"Slowly beginning to regret this." Kirito admitted. "Sebastian, tell me he won't chisel my face." 

"No promises there, Kirito, I'm sorry." 

"Oh stop fussing." Grell secured the wig, stood back and smiled. "Perfect!" 

"It suits you." Alan sniggered. "Are you sure this will work?" 

"No-one can say for certain that a plan will work. Anything could happen." Sebastian replied.


	6. Chapter 6

Both reapers had been 'debriefed' on the situation before being reunited in a slightly larger room. Ronald was sitting in the corner, trying to take up the least amount of room as physically possible. 

"I'm sorry." 

"You weren't in control." William placed a hand over the area the door had appeared and disappeared. He knocked twice. It sounded... full. Not hollow. It sounded like nothing was on the other side. It was odd. Unnerving. 

He knocked again, but this time it was accompanied by a soft sob. The following knock was too accompanied by a sob. He waited for a third sob before acting. 

He sighed. "Are you alright?" 

"Am I alright? We've been captured by demons! No I'm not alright! What the hell happened to your hand?" 

"An hour glass. He thought it was fitting." 

Ronald nodded silently and looked back down to the floor. William sighed again, walking towards Ronald and knelt across from him. 

"We both know I have no people skills, so can we please just pretend I've said something comforting?" 

Ronald smiled. "Sure. I'm sorry." 

William's hand shot over to Ronald's shoulder, startling him slightly. "You need to stop apologising." 

"Sorry." 

"Apologise one more time and you're getting unpaid overtime for a week, this is my injured hand." William pulled his hand away quickly and stood, Ronald following. 

"Is there still glass in that?" 

"There is. I can't get a good grip on it." 

"You know what would be helpful in this situation?" 

"What?" 

"Grell's nails." 

William nodded in agreement, but swiftly changed his mind. "I wouldn't let that reaper anywhere near my hand." 

Ronald smiled slightly before sliding back down the wall to his original position, squeezing the warmer between his hands. He reached into his pocket and pulled out another, offering it to William. 

"He gave me loads. I'm sure there's some sort of emotional blackmail tied to it, but it's freezing." 

William reluctantly took the hand warmer and flexed the disk. He sat beside Ronald. 

"Yours must be cold by now." 

Ronald nodded. "Yeah." 

"Would you like me to flex one for you?" 

"Yes please." Ronald slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out another warmer, passing it to William. 

He took it, flexed the disk, and passed it back. "How big are those pockets?" 

 

Kirito had left for the demon realm, after a considerable amount of persuation. The others also had to leave as the fair was about to reopen for the day. They had nowhere specific in mind, but they came across a park that Grell insisted on staying at. 

Grell and the Undertaker were sitting on the swings, swaying back and forth as they spoke. 

"I think I did quite well," Grell praised himself, "I think blonde suits him." 

Sebastian felt vibrating in his pocket. "I think he's in." He answered the phone and set it to speaker. 

 

"They're being stubborn. It's to be expected." Jessie spoke as the three demons walked down what appeared to be a long corridor. 

"This scythe is amazing! I think it's my second favourite." Evangeline twirled William's scythe at her side. 

"Or we can talk about scythes." Jessie rolled his eyes. "Why, what's your favourite?" 

"The chainsaw, definitely." 

On the other end, Grell smiled triumphantly. 

"I like the lawnmower." Jessie admitted. "But please can we not talk about our favourite reaper things in a realm full of demons? People will talk." 

"I'm sorry, I missed the first half of this." Kirito said. He kept his phone in his pocket, hoping the quality of the sound wouldn't be too bad. It was surprising how good the signal was in the demon realm. 

"Sorry," Evangeline apologised with a warm smile, "how much have you missed?" 

"Erm... I can't tell you what I've missed, I wasn't there." 

"True, sorry that was a stupid question. Are you familiar with the reaper with the glasses and the reaper with the lawnmower and the flicky hair?" 

Kirito tilted his head. "Don't all reapers have glasses?" 

"You've clearly never met him, or you'd know immediately who she's talking about." Jessie told him. "He's important, that's all that matters." 

"Yes," Evangeline continued, "what's his name?"

"William T. Spears, apparently." Jessie replied, mentally congratulating himself. 

They stopped walking. "What does the T stand for?" Evangeline asked. "Not important. The point is..." 


	7. Chapter 7

"Thomas. Tyler. Theo. Toby. Tommy. Tilly." 

"I highly doubt his middle name is Tilly." 

"Tamashii." Evangeline continued. 

"Now you're just saying words." Jessie sighed. "Why don't you ask him?" 

There was a pause. Kirito was slightly worried about how much this phone call would cost, knowing he would not have the time to leave and top up his credit, but he tried to push that to the back of his mind. 

"Good idea," Kirito said quickly, "why don't we go and ask." 

"Let's make bets." Evangeline suggested. 

 

That was easy, he thought. Kirito found himself walking with the other two demons towards wherever it was the two reapers were being held. He had assumed it would take a lot of spy work to find them, but apparently not. His preperation was wasted - not that he was complaining. 

 

"My second foster father was Japanese." Ronald explained. He was sitting beside a rather uncomfortable but trying William. "His name was Takuya. He taught me basic Japanese, but we never got any further than that." 

"Why not?" William asked, wondering why he was asking. He told himself he shouldn't particularly care, but he found that he did... 

"That's when I died."

William regretted asking. "Oh, sorry." Though if he didn't want to talk about it, he shouldn't have mentioned it in the first place. 

Ronald smiled. "It's fine." 

"That explains the senpai." William realised. 

The door appeared and second later three demons burst through. William was on his feet before they fully entered. 

"Greetings." Jessie smiled. "We were wondering if we could ask you something." 

Evangeline nodded. "Yes, something of great importance." 

"What does the T stand for?"

Ronald stood up slowly behind William who sighed. "It stands for Takuya." 

The demons remained silent for a few seconds before Evangeline broke it. "Oh... fair enough." 

They left. 

"That was odd." Ronald said, sitting back down. "What does it really stand for?" 

"Let's use it as an incentive. When we escape from here, I'll tell you my middle name." 

Ronald smiled. "Deal." 

The door reappeared and one of the previous three demons entered, this one with blonde hair, two horns and a leather jacket. "Hi, I'm Kirito-" 

William stood again. "Kirito." 

"Aren't you supposed to have purple hair?" Ronald asked, remaining firmly in his spot. 

"Your red reaper made me over. Listen, this door is going to remain open for unknown reasons, what happens as a result has nothing to do with me." 

 

"Alright, five more minutes and we move." Sebastian instructed, hoping the reapers with him would understand reason and not argue. He'd had no problems so far. 

"Just us?" Alan asked. 

"We'd have been no match against an army of angels, but a few demons? I know all their tricks, and so should you at this point. We'll have no problem." 

And so the reapers prepared for battle; well, as close as they'd come. Alan knew he'd be a liability, it wasn't that he was scared of battle, he was just scared of what may happen to others around him if he happened to have an attack. Instead, he returned to the Dispatch Offices, under the assumption that it'd be safe. 

It didn't matter. The Undertaker counted as an entire army of reapers when it came to battle. He could slay demons with his eyes closed - which was handy, considering there was a large mass of fringe in the way. 

As for Grell and Sebastian... it would make a change fighting side by side. The red reaper was lethal with a chainsaw, and everyone knows the strength of a demon. 

They'd be fine.


	8. Chapter 8

The demons, on the other hand... They were on high alert. The order stated the Crow must be killed on sight. They could not waste their time with him, but neither could they risk finding themselves face to face with him. 

They weren't, however, on the look out for two reapers who had managed to escape as a result of a door miraculously being left open. 

Kirito had 'accidentally dropped' two cloaks outside the door, which the two reapers had managed to use to their advantage. 

Evangeline and Jessie were completely unaware they were being watched as they walked down what appeared to be a long, dark, narrow corridor. 

"We need that scythe." William stated. "We can't let a demon keep their hands on it. We can't, however, go near them without a weapon." 

"Well that's handy." Ronald commented, keeping his arms tightly pressed against his chest. It was freezing. 

"May I make a suggestion?" 

William and Ronald turned around slowly to see a red form standing behind them, twirling what looked like... a chainsaw. 

"Grell-senpai! How did you get here?" 

Grell smiled. "There's more than one way to enter the demon world, but not everyone knows it." 

"No indeed, call it the back door hidden by uncut blackberry bushes." A second voice said. A demon's voice. Sebastian. 

"Are you lot going to stand around talking all day?" A third voice added. "You're not going to leave me to do this on my own, are you?" 

William silently judged the group. "You're all mad." 

"Mad as a hatter, my dear." The Undertaker patted William a little to hard on the back. "Do you want your scythe or not?" 

 

"The important thing isn't the fighting," Alan insisted, "it's the not being found. A small group of reapers is better than an entire army!" 

"I feel so violated." One of the reapers cried, having heard the situation. 

From amongst the crowd, one reaper stepped forward. "Are you alright?" 

Alan pulled Eric to one side. "I have something I need to tell you."

 

"There really are a lot of Takuyas." Evangeline said as she and Jessie continued to walk down the seemingly endless corridor. "There's Takuya Uehara, Takuya Ide, Takuya... something else. And then there's Teruma, do you have any idea how difficult it is to find pictures of someone with one sodding name?" 

Jessie nodded, the scythe by his side. "That's why you go for someone like Yuya Matsushita or Hiro Mizushima." 

"When does this corridor end?" 

Jessie stopped in his tracks, Evangeline and Kirito following suit. "Someone's here. Someone's here who shouldn't be." 

He turned around swiftly and within seconds he had vanished. 

 

"You're honestly with reapers now?" Jessie said in a harsh voice as he knocked an unsuspecting Sebastian to the ground. "We never thought our suspicions would be true. We thought we were just being paranoid." 

Jessie gasped as he felt a sharp slicing pain down his arm. He turned his head and saw the silver haired reaper, the original Death, the Undertaker. He gulped, but stood his ground regardless. 

"I can do this." He said to himself before knocking the Undertaker's skull decorated scythe with the one he had stolen. "That was stupid!" He immediately scolded himself. 

He froze as he felt something press against his back. Behind him, a soft voice whispered. "If I were you, I'd drop the scythe. You could poke an eye out with that." 

Jessie scowled. "I plan to!" In the process of turning around, he was hit by the Undertaker's scythe, this time he fell to the floor. He still kept a tight grip around William's scythe as he attempted to defend himself with it. 

"I'm not alone here, you know. Others will be here in seconds." Jessie threatened. William gently eased Ronald to one side, knowing an attack from them - without weapons - would be suicide. Grell, however, stood beside Sebastian with his roaring scythe, causing Jessie to gulp a second time. 

 

The Undertaker had Jessie pinned against the wall with his scythe - something neither William or Ronald could remember him acquiring. Wasn't he supposed to be retired? 

"I'll... I'll be taking that." Grell said, prying the long scythe from Jessie's hand and passing it to William. He then brought his own back to life. 

"Don't do that!" 

"Give me one good reason!" Grell seethed through his teeth. 

Jessie paused in thought. "Because... if I die, I can't give you my Cavalier stuff." He could practically see the steam rising from Grell. "We have the stuff you made! Yeah, the exploding stuff. As I said, chemistry was never really my forte." 

"And?" 

"And we can get to your precious reaper realm whenever we feel like it." The demon threatened. 

"How?" 

"Now, that would be telling." The demon gasped as the chainsaw almost sliced his face. "I just think you're making a really big mistake!" 

William could only watch from the side, feeling a slight chill. Sure, Grell wasn't exactly the most stable reaper he'd ever met, but still. 

"Grell." William placed a hand on Grell's arm, lowering it slightly. "Maybe... we shouldn't... perhaps we can use this to our advantage." 

Jessie narrowed his eyes. "Oh, you wouldn't." 

"You sliced my hand with glass from a sand timer. Trust me, I would." 

Sebastian took Ronald's arm and pulled him away from the scene. "What do you think?" 

"What do I think?" The young reaper repeated, gently rubbing his hands together, barely creating enough friction to generate any warmth. "I think... we shouldn't bring him to the offices, you know what happened last time." 

"So what do you think we should do?" 

"Why are you asking me?" 

"You deserve a say." 

Ronald looked back to the scene. At first, he saw the demon he had not long since been having a conversation with in a fairground tent in the middle of the night. Then, he saw William's freshly bleeding hand - he must have accidentally knocked it. 

"I think... we need to know how they are able to... to get to our realm." 

Sebastian would by lying if he said he'd never noticed how young this reaper looked, but one hundred years and he didn't look any older. 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Eric didn't buy it. His friends were in danger; they needed help. Things never went according to plan. Ever. Luckily, it didn't have to. What with William and Grell gone, Eric was essentially 'next-in-line'. 

"This is what we do. We prepare. We don't want to barge in ruining their plans, but we need to be available in case we're needed." 

The reapers had ensured their scythes were clean and sharp, well maintained, ready to use in an emergency. 

 

Sebastian pushed Jessie into the chair and took a seat opposite him, but not before securing the younger demon's hands behind the chair. This was Grell's dream, sitting in between his beloved William and his guilty pleasure Sebastian. 

"Why?" Jessie questioned. "Reapers, really." 

"You don't do interrogations often, do you?" Grell asked, sitting forwards. "See, we ask you the questions, and you refuse to say another word until you see your lawyer." 

Ronald was standing in the corner of the room with the Undertaker - who was not allowed to partake in the interrogation as the demon had to remain alive for it to work. The younger reaper was frustratingly trying to snap a disk in the small hand warmer. 

Jessie smiled. "How do you think we got in? How do you think we managed to tamper with your paperwork? You've seen, we can control people. But how far do you think that goes? More importantly, it's quite warm in here don't you think?" 

Ronald froze. "What do you mean?" 

"Nothing." Jessie said in a stereotypical manor of a guilty teenager. 

 

"Just relax!" 

"I can't relax when you're screaming in my face!" 

Grell was holding the younger reaper's arms tightly and was trying to shake him back to reality. It was at that point he noticed just how cold Ronald was. He could feel it through his leather gloves. 

"Wow, you really are freezing." Grell paused. "The heater. It was sabotaged. Someone broke it, making our offices all cold, so we wouldn't notice. But then they brought you to us. Why would they do that? Unless..." 

It felt as though hell really did freeze over. Grell turned around quickly, but there was no exit. "Why, why would you do that?" 

Ronald was shaking, but not through the cold. Neither was it through fear. It was through him trying to keep control of his own body. 

 

William had abandoned his chair and was instead standing beside the table, cleaning his scythe with a piece of fabric - no-one quite remembered where it came from. 

"You're doing that on purpose." Jessie commented, afraid to tear his eyes away from the scythe. 

The chair didn't stay abandoned for long, however, as the Undertaker had happily stolen it. 

"I'm simply cleaning my scythe." 

"This is payback." 

"I'm simply cleaning my scythe." 

"You're trying to scare me." 

"I'm simply cleaning my scythe." 

"It's clean!" 

William turned his head to Jessie. "No I don't think it is, maybe you'd like a closer look." 

"I'm fine, thanks." 

 

"Stay with me here!" Grell was tightly gripping Ronald's shoulders, and Ronald returned the grip on his mentor's arms. His eyes were squeezed shut as he fought to keep control. 

"I'm sorry, if I'm about to hurt you, I'm sorry." He cried. 

"It's okay, I won't be afraid to hit back." 

Ronald smiled and opened his eyes, catching one last look at his senpai before he lost it. 

 

"You know," Jessie said, leaning further and further away from the surprisingly scary reaper, "it wasn't wise letting those two go off on their own." 

"They can look after themselves." William insisted, snapping his eyes towards Sebastian for a brief second. He caught the message and left. 

"So I believe we were discussing how you are able to enter the reaper realm." The Undertaker said, sitting forwards. Only a handful of reapers had ever seen the Undertaker like this - and lived to tell the tale, at least. William was one of those few people, and he was secretly enjoying every second of it. 

"And I believe I already told you." 

"Of course, but the question we want to know now is why."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We will return to the demon realm soon. :-) The next chapter is going to be a flashback, then a chapter between Alan and Eric.


	10. Chapter 10

_The day they were assigned as partners for the final exam was certainly not the first time  Grell and William had met. It was just the first time they had engaged in any real conversation. No, the first time they had met was their first lesson as Shinigami academy students. William was nervous, not that he'd ever admit it._

_Students had formed their newly decided friendship groups and he wondered if there was a memo he didn't receive._

_Waiting for their instructor, time had never passed slower._

_"Grell."_

_"Sorry?"_

_The red head smiled. "It's my name."_

_"Oh."_

_"You don't do social conventions do you? This is usually when you tell me your name."_

_It took him a while to respond. "Sorry. William."_

_"Good, we're getting there." He crossed his arms. "So what's your story?"_

_"My story?"_

_The two took their seats in the corner as the conversation continued, much to William's dismay._

_"I'm gue_

_ssing you haven't always been so.... socially challenged."_

_"I've only just met you. I'm not going into my life story."_

_Grell huffed and William could tell he wasn't going to let it lie. "People love a guy with emotional baggage."_

_"Is that your trick? Make me open up by telling me I have baggage?"_

_Grell tried a new tactic. "How did you die?"_

_"My heart stopped beating."_

_"Funny. Just so you know... this isn't over."_

_And it certainly wasn't._

 

_"I was murdered" William jumped as the red head popped up from behind the bench._

_"Were you?" He tried to continue his book, but realised it would be a waste of time when_

_Grell sat beside him on the bench._

_"Stabbed in the street. Don't know why."_

_"Why don't you go and find out?"_

_William opened his book again. "What aee you reading?" He snappedit shut._

_"Not an awful lot, apparently."_

_"Okay, what were you reading?"_

_"A book."_

_The next time William saw his crimson stalker, he was sitting alone on the same bench, gazing at... something. Tilting his head back and rolling his eyes, William went to sit beside him._

_"The Civil War."_

_Grell looked up. He hadn't noticed anyone approach - not that he minded. "That's how you_

_died?"_

_"The First Battle of Newbury. We attacked Round Hill, but there were too many bushes and h_

_edgerows for us to be effective.  It was declared war, so there's that."_

_"You were a Royalist?"_

_"I am insulted you thought differently."_

_"I wish we could have kept our old things. IImagine how much authentic Cavalier gear would be worth in a few hundred years."_

_"Why are you out here on your own?"_

_Grell smiled."I thought maybe you'd talk to me if I looked lonely."_

 


	11. Chapter 11

Alan didn't notice the heavy snow at first. The snowflakes were so large, the patterns were visible to the naked eye. Alan often found himself wondering how people knew no two snowflakes were the same. There were only so many patterns in the world. It wasn't as though one person analysed every single snowflake that fell, keeping every single pattern on record. Who's to say a snowflake that falls in England couldn't look like a snowflake that falls in Japan decades later? 

He gasped as he felt a sharp twinge in his arm. It felt like it was moving. 

"Eric?" He was alone, which really wasn't helpful in this situation. "No it's fine, I'm fine." 

He heard a knock on his door. "Alan, you okay in there?" 

"No..." He answered honestly. 

 

"Grell?" Sebastian called, opening a door to wherever it was in particular the other two reapers were. Finding them, he froze in his tracks. The sight he met truly made him feel like hell had frozen over. 

He took a few slow steps back. "Grell?" 

Grell watched as the dark figure faded from his sight. He closed his eyes for what he thought was only a brief second, but when he opened them he was greeted with a slightly blurred yet familiar face. 

"W-Will?" Grell reached out a trembling hand, smiling as a soft, warm hand clasped it. 

"Keep... Keep your eyes open!" 

Grell shook his head. "No point... can't..." He coughed. "I'm sorry." 

"Whatever for?" 

"You and I both know what for." Grell's words were slurred and William could barely make them out. William tightened his grip around Grell's weakening hand. 

He shook his head. "You made my life interesting, you don't need to apologise for that. Eyes open!" 

"I'm sorry, I can't... ah... don't do anything I wouldn't do." He smiled. 

"Grell, I-" 

Grell's head fell back, his open eyes didn't so much as twitch. "I swear if you're just asleep, I'll kill you myself." 

Standing aside, Sebastian briefly lowered his head. 

 

Eric gently led his former student to the chair opposite his desk. "Is there anything you need me to do?" 

Alan shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Thank you." 

 

"You are adorable, has anyone ever told you that?" 

Ronald refused to respond. He couldn't run, he couldn't fight, he couldn't control his actions but he sure as hell could control his voice. 

Evangeline sighed with faked frustration. "Fine, okay, I get it, I did just make you kill your former mentor, I understand if you don't want to talk to me." 

"He's stronger than you think." 

The demon smiled, satisfied at the response. "Someone's optimistic. It's one of those things that makes you adorable." 

 

William gently eased the red reaper's eyelids closed. For the first time in his life, he looked peaceful. 

Sebastian reached for his phone and sent the demon spy a text. 'Are you with Evangeline?'

He recieved a reply in less than a minute. 'I'm with her, but she doesn't know that.'

William stood up slowly, brushing out the creases that had formed from him kneeling down. Anyone else would have probably said some cliche line such as 'now it's personal' or 'they've gone too far', but William simply remained silent and returned to the makeshift demon interrogation room. 

 

"I think it's passing, it's okay." Alan assured Eric, though it was really more for himself. "I'm fine." 

"You sure?" 

Alan nodded slowly. "I'm fine. If we're going to do this, we're going to have to do it now." 

 

William turned around, staring dangerously at the demon who had tightly grasped his arm. "What do you think you're doing?" 

"Be reasonable, you are in no fit state to-"

"The forth rule of reaping, remain stoic and do your work briskly. I'm hardly the type of person to allow emotions to cloud my judgement." 

Sebastian paused for a few seconds. He knew the response he wanted to give, but he was pondering whether or not it would be appropriate. 

"I thought the forth rule of reaping was that if you met a handsome stranger, you'd get the rest of the day off with pay." 

 

Alan tried to stand up, but his legs wobbled and Eric pushed him back down. 

"Alright, I'm not okay!" 

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do." 

"Neither do I!" Alan cried through grit teeth. "This is new to me too!" 

 

"I am so sorry you had to witness that." Evangeline said as she circled the young reaper. She then grasped him by the shoulders. "But it's all for the greater good." 

"What greater good?" 

"Ours." She smiled. "She, we planned this from the beginning. We needed that reaper, or more specifically we needed certain aspects of his life. There is a bit of luck involved, though. Really hoping your 'senpai' is too emotionally damaged to think to reap his soul." 

"What do you want with it?" 

"We have a plan. We planned it. But I can't really divulge all our secrets, can I? Whatever would I do if you escaped?" 

"Are you expecting me to escape?" 

Evangeline shrugged. "Stranger things have happened." 

 

"You are in over your head," Sebastian insisted, "you've seen how serious they are. If a single demon is capable of that... there needs to be more than the two of you." 

"There are plenty of reapers back at Dispatch. No doubt they have already been briefed on the situation." 

Sebastian sighed and released his grip. "You are allowed time." 

"I will take all the time I need when this is over."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it had to be Grell. I have my reasons.


End file.
